


Inquiry After an Ant

by 20SomethingSuperHeroes



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Ant-Man (2015) Spoilers, Gen, Hydra (Marvel), Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Pre-Captain America: Civil War, S.H.I.E.L.D., the road to Civil War (Marvel)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2015-08-14
Packaged: 2018-04-14 15:54:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4570446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/20SomethingSuperHeroes/pseuds/20SomethingSuperHeroes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The new Avengers team is just getting settled in when Sam Wilson comes back to base one day and meets the Ant-Man.  The encounter gives his friends on the team and at S.H.I.E.L.D a good laugh, but when Ant-Man is implicated in a disaster at Hank Pym's old company in San Francisco, they realize something much bigger might be happening. Phil Coulson, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and his protege Hillary Tanner try to piece together the story.</p><p>Setting: concurrent with the events of the fall of Pymtech; several months after the battle of Sokovia</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inquiry After an Ant

Facebook conversation of the Avengers and friends:

Steve Rogers  
Let the record show that Sam Wilson has now totaled his second Falcon suit in two years. And this time it got totaled by an ANT. 

Col. James Rhodes: man, it’s not totaled, I told you. Doesn’t count.

Sam Wilson: Thanks for backing me up, bro. And Cap, why the heck are you posting this stuff on FB?

Steve Rogers: Because embarrassing you is fun #onyourleft

Sam Wilson: *rude emojis and swearwords*

Hillary Morgan Tanner: Steve, I need to hear about this. PM me!

Steve Rogers: Better yet, I’ll just tell you about it right here

Sam Wilson: It’s not story time

Steve Rogers: Yes it is. We’re going to let Hillary in on this ;) Sam Wilson went ahead to check on the base yesterday when we were coming back. The rest of us were almost there when I got a call from Eric Selvig saying that Wilson had arrived but his suit was malfunctioning. When we arrived we saw that Wilson was grounded and out of breath. He said he’d just been in a fight with a weird guy that had a suit that shrank. 

Sam Wilson: It wasn’t me. It was my stunt double.

Steve Rogers: You don’t have one, Wilson.

Sam Wilson: You can’t prove it happened. 

Steve Rogers: Sam, the security cameras saw the whole thing and you had half of the staff watching through the windows. You can’t pretend it didn’t happen. 

Hillary Morgan Tanner: And who was the other guy?

Sam Wilson: He said his name was Scott

Hillary Morgan Tanner: Wait, back up, he told you his NAME? People don’t just do that

Sam Wilson: This guy did. I think he was fangirling.

Steve Rogers: Fangirling?

Sam Wilson: It’s a good thing all of us weren’t there, I think. The Scott guy would have lost it if he’d met ALL of us. 

Hillary Morgan Tanner: So the guy just left after that?

Sam Wilson: Yeah

Hillary Morgan Tanner: What was he after?

Sam Wilson: IDK. He went into one of the Stark warehouses.

Hillary Morgan Tanner: Hm, makes sense. 

Steve Rogers: Well, we had a meeting after we all got back. We’re going to set up extra security around the new base--though how we’ll stop a bug-sized burglar from breaking in is beyond me

Wanda Maximoff: That was probably our best meeting ever :) 

Vision: I admit I find an element of diversion in human embarrassment

Sam Wilson: THIS ISN’T FUNNY YOU GUYS

Natasha Romanova: This FB thread made my day :D

 

“Hey, Coulson, did you see this?”

“See what?” Phil Coulson walked around the set of cubicles to Hillary’s desk.

“Something funny happened up at Avengers HQ,” said Hillary. “Well...I guess it’s supposed to be serious but Cap’s making it sound funny.”

“Oh really?” Coulson leaned down and looked at her computer, but he was only skimming. “So what happened?”

“Some guy in a high-tech suit broke into one of the Stark Warehouses on the Avengers’ property. Aparently he beat Falcon to a pulp.”

“Wilson? Was he hurt bad?”

“No. Messed his suit up, though,” said HIllary. 

“I see. The second suit he’s been through in a year, eh?” Coulson leaned back and stretched, flexing his fingers. “Well, I’ll have to go back and read that when I’ve got the time.  
It’s nice to hear that the new Avengers have things under control at any rate...or mostly, rather.”

“Rather.” 

Hillary continued scrolling through her Facebook while Coulson returned to checking on the other assistants. There really wasn’t anything else in her feed that was quite as amusing. 

Mitch leaned over towards her from his neighboring cubicle.

“So what was that all about?” he asked her.

“You remember Sam Wilson, the guy we met in Birmingham last week?”

“Falcon? Oh yeah.”

“Well, guess what,” she said. Mitch scooted closer to her computer. Hillary returned to the top of her page and scrolled through the post so Mitch could read every comment in detail. He chuckled aloud. 

“That was funny,” said Mitch. “That was really funny. Those guys all got a great sense of humor, don’t they?”

“Yeah,” said Hillary. 

Mitch returned to his cubicle. 

“Must be fun, at the Avengers’ meetings, all of their personalities interacting,” Hillary commented. 

“Yeah, I’ll bet.”

Hillary got back to work on her reports. I wonder who that Scott guy is, she thought to herself. Well, seeing how things go in this business, I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Back in his office, Coulson was doing paperwork when he felt his pocket vibrate. Wishing he had put his personal phone on silent instead, he unlocked his phone and checked the message. It was from Clint Barton.

Hey, Coulson, did you see this?

It was a screenshot of the very same Facebook thread that Hillary had shown him a few minutes earlier. 

Phil Coulson: Where did you get this?

Clint Barton: Nat sent it.

Coulson made a note to himself to advise Natasha against making screenshots of people’s private Facebook conversations...though, with Hillary in the mix, it hadn’t been very private. But Coulson took a minute to read the screenshot. He had a good laugh. And then he started thinking. And then he texted Steve Rogers.

Phil Coulson: Do you know about Ant-Man?

Steve Rogers: Yes. Maria Hill briefed us on this in our meeting today. 

Phil Coulson: But if it’s not Hank Pym in the suit, then who is this Scott guy?

Steve Rogers: That’s what we’re all asking.

Phil Coulson: A little mean, though, wasn’t it, poking fun at Sam like that publicly?

Steve Rogers: Yeah, a little. I mean, if Sam had been hurt badly in any way I probably wouldn’t have found it nearly as funny. But aside from his Falcon suit the only thing he really hurt is his pride.

Phil Coulson: Funny, Sam Wilson didn’t strike me as a prideful person

Steve Rogers: Me neither, but he’s upset because this should have been easy for him.

Phil Coulson: You don’t say? Well, I think we need to look up this Scott person.

Steve Rogers: It’s a thought. But we’ll wait and see if he turns up again. 

 

The next day at the Avengers base, Sam Wilson and Steve Rogers were walking down the hallway to a meeting.

“I guess that Hillary Tanner’s an all right girl,” said Wilson. “She says I have an entertaining Facebook feed.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you’re just as entertaining in real life.” He patted Sam on the back. Sam winced and they went into the meeting room. The meeting room was in the center of the Headquarters building, but had a broad skylight that let in an abundant amount of natural lighting. The wooden table had a glass top and the chairs were all wheeled with high backs. Rogers, Wanda, Natasha, and Vision were all in their uniforms. Wilson was wearing his uniform minus the damaged jetpack, and he looked oddly small without it. Colonel James “Rodey” Rhodes wore a crisp black business suit, with an Avengers “A” pin on his lappel. Natasha complained that Rhodey was overdressed as usual, but that day Rhodey claimed he had an excuse, since he was doing a presentation on a recent hearing he had attended in Washington D.C. He not only briefed them on the hearing but on a protest that had been going on at Capitol Hill when he had been there.

“There’s a reason I didn’t go in the War Machine suit,” said Rhodey. “It would’ve made people angrier.”

“But what are they angry at?” said Natasha. “You haven’t done anything, have you?”

“I joined the Avengers, it seems,” said Rhodey.

Steve winced a little at Rhodey’s tone. “I’d hate to think that you didn’t like the negative attention.”

“It’s not a problem,” said Rhodey. “Haters gonna hate, and all that. But like I said, there weren’t a lot of friendly people inside, either. People think we interfere too much in global affairs.”

“How is that not a good thing, though?” said Wanda Maximoff. “We are trying to help the world, and make it a better place. I thought we were being careful--doing better.” She looked at Steve and Natasha. 

“Well, people don’t see it like that,” said Natasha. “We’re trying to help them but we’re causing a lot of destruction at the same time. It’s making it hard for them to appreciate us.  
And it doesn’t matter who’s on the team. There will always be critics.”

“I do not think our work goes unappreciated, Natasha,” said Vision. 

“You are right, Vision,” said Steve. “Thank you, Rhodey. That will be all.” He looked around the table as Rhodey sat down between Vision and Wilson. “I guess that will be everything for today...unless someone has something they’d like to say.”

“Question,” said Wilson, raising his hand.

“No need to raise your hand, bro, this ain’t kindergarten,” Rhodey commented.

“I’m just sayin’,” said Wilson, “have we heard anything more about this Ant-Man guy yet?”

“No,” said Natasha.

“Should we have?” said Vision.

“Maria said she’d call me as soon as she found out something.” Steve replied.

“Well, you let me know the minute she does,” said Sam. 

“What for?” Wanda asked.

“Well, we need to keep tabs on him, for one thing,” Sam explained.

“Keeping tabs on people is S.H.I.E.L.D.’s job,” said Steve.

“Not the way they do, like, just...we need to know he’s there. Like if he’s going to cause trouble for us again. But it’s more than that,” Sam said. “We’ve been doing this for three weeks now. It’s felt like three years. It’s tough stuff, this Avenging. Not all of us are going to want to do this forever, are we?” he said, looking around at the other.

“Aside from me?” said Vision. “It’s what I was built for.”

“Yeah, aside from you,” said Sam. “But anyway, Steve, it’s not that I don’t like working with you, I love it, in fact, but--” He faltered, looking around at the others. “I want to be honest.”

“Go right ahead,” said Steve.

“I think not all of us will be able do this forever. In fact, not all of us will want to do this forever. I think we need to bring more people on board--not necessarily to put them on the team, but to have them ready, just in case one of us can’t do it, or feels the need to step down or sit out.”

Wanda looked at Sam steadily, evaluating what he was saying. Vision twiddled his thumbs. Natasha had an eyebrow slanted at him. Rhodey alternated from looking at the table to looking at Sam. And Steve was listening with rapt attention.

“I know what you guys are thinking,” said Sam. “We’re only just starting out, it’s too soon to be talking about stepping down or replacing people. But this isn’t a predictable business. The last Avengers team wasn’t supposed to be a permanent thing in the first place, and even if it had been who knows how long it would have lasted? We need to keep these sorts of things in mind when we’re running into other superhumans and enhanced people.”

“Did you write that down first, or was that off the top of your head?” said Steve.

“I’ve been thinking about it,” said Sam.

“But that’s not saying you’re thinking of recruiting every enhanced we come across,” said Natasha.

“I wasn’t saying that at all. If they don’t have hostile intentions, we should give them a shot. See if they’re interested,” said Sam. He shrugged. “You know.” 

“It’s no different from the way S.H.I.E.L.D. used to go about it,” said Steve. “So how do you suggest this will be different?” He looked Sam dead in the eye.

“Well, we don’t need S.H.I.E.L.D.’s approval for the people we recruit. We can limit S.H.I.E.L.D.’s involvement to the background checks and such. But we make this personal. One-on-one. If we don’t actually know the person, we go find them.” 

Steve’s mouth thinned a little.

“I think that’s a reasonable approach,” said Vision.

“I think this is a good idea,” said Wanda. 

“It sounds all right,” said Natasha. “We can work out the kinks later.”

“But as for the new ‘Ant-Man,’” said Rhodey, “were you seriously thinking of going looking for him?”

"Were you?” said Natasha. “Well, seeing how Sam’s good at finding people--”

“Tasha, this is completely different,” Steve interjected. “Any reason in particular you want to go look for Ant-Man?” he asked Sam.

“Other than the fact that he whipped my butt?”

Wanda laughed.

“Yeah. Other than that?” said Steve.

“Well, the truth is, I was very impressed by how he whipped my butt,” said Sam. “Not just the tech he had, but the brains. Yeah, he’s a bit of an idiot, that Scott guy, but I think he’s got it where it counts.”

“And he certainly has a lot of guts,” said Rhodey. “Probably a smart-aleck.”

“If he knows how to work that kind of a suit, though,” said Natasha, “he probably has the brains to match. Maybe he’s not just a smart aleck.”

“And if this Hank Pym is working with him,” said Wanda, “then perhaps he is very smart. No?”

“It takes some brains to get past Sam,” said Steve.

“Or brawn,” said Sam.

“Or both,” said Rhodey.

“Hank Pym is one of the greatest technological geniuses of the last century,” said Vision. “It would take a sharp wit indeed to earn his respect, and work with him.”

“So yeah, I want to look this guy up,” said Sam. “But it doesn’t seem like we have that much to go off from in the meantime.”

“Yeah, Sam, you’d probably better wait until we find out more,” said Steve. “We’ll keep that on the radar. Darren Cross announced that PymTech was coming out with a new product. It may be something to do with that. Do we have anything else to discuss today? No? Okay. Avengers, dismissed.” 

 

“So you have been to San Francisco before?” Hillary asked Mitch as Coulson drove them along the Beltway a few days later.

“A few times,” said Mitch casually. “It’s where I went to Boy’s State. A couple of state debate tournaments in High School. That sort of thing. I’ve done the sightseeing.” 

“So you could say you know it pretty well?” asked Hillary.

“Well...well enough for an occasional tourist.” 

“Should be good enough for a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent,” said Coulson. “That makes you the man for the job.”

“Well, it’s not the most exciting place I’ve visited, to be quite frank.”

“Well, I think it’s about to get more interesting for you,” said Coulson, flipping his turn signal to merge into the turning lane. “That must’ve been scary, though. A toy train bursting through the roof of your house--that’s unsettling.”

“Thomas the Tank Engine, too,” said Hillary. “I never liked that show growing up. The trains with faces just creeped me out.”

“I’m more concerned about the tank,” said Mitch. “I mean, how does one come up with a giant tank that bursts through a wall? What are they gonna do with that stuff, anyway?”

“That’ll be your job, to make sure it’s disposed of properly,” said Coulson. Coulson took another exit, following a sign that showed the way to the airport.

“Right, well, but how does something that’s supposed to be small get that big?” Mitch was waving his arms.

“It’s in your briefing packet,” said Coulson. “I suggest you read that before your in-flight nap.”

“Ha, ha, very funny, boss,” said Mitch. “Like you haven’t ever experienced jet-lag.”

“It’s just a cross-country flight, Mitch,” said Hillary. “It’s not like when we were overseas.”

“I know. I should be used to it. I guess I don’t get to go home often enough--not that I’m complaining, Coulson. My family said they’re coming up to visit, by the way, while I’m there.”

“Well, this investigation probably won’t keep you too busy to enjoy their company,” said Coulson. 

“So Coulson,” said Hillary, “Have we heard anything about that Scott character yet? The guy who broke into the Avengers’ facility?”

Coulson took the turnoff to the East Terminal of the airport. “I get the feeling, since this was PymTech that went down, that Hank Pym is involved in this. The news reports say he was there when it happened. He got out, but no one has seen him since. He’s a crusty old bugger, Pym,” Coulson said with a reminiscent sigh. “I was an agent not much newer than you guys when he was still working for S.H.I.E.L.D.--ha, ha, get it, a bugger?”

Hillary didn’t quite grasp the meaning of this statement. “What’s Hank Pym got to do with anything?”

“It’s just a suspicion I have,” said Coulson. 

“But how about Sam Wilson’s Falcon suit? Is that out of commission?”

“I think not completely,” said Coulson. “The Avengers base has the tech resources to repair it--though it could take a couple of weeks.”

“Man, that’s gotta be frustrating for Sam, having your wings clipped,” said Mitch.

They found an open spot at the curb by the check-in for United Airlines. Coulson pulled over and popped the trunk.

“Well, have a nice flight,” said Coulson as Mitch unfastened his seatbelt. “Text me when you get there.” 

“Bye, Mitch,” said Hillary.

“See you around,” said Mitch as he got out of the car with his carry-on bags. He got his rolling suitcase from the trunk, and then as he strolled up to the bag check Coulson drove away. 

 

The rest of the afternoon at S.H.I.E.L.D.’s headquarters, and the next day as well, Hillary was supposed to be monitoring the news threads about the fall of PymTech in San Francisco. As far as Hillary could tell, no one seemed to know what had really happened. Darren Cross had vanished. Hank Pym was hospitalized for a bullet wound sustained during the event but how it was related to the building collapsing Hillary had no idea. The toy train that had been blown out of proportion (literally) belonged to a little girl, but as for the tank the news didn’t have anything on it except that it had been towed away to a secure location. But first thing the next morning, Hillary called Coulson over to her desk to tell him what she had found.

“They’re saying that Darren Cross’ new product was something called a YellowJacket,” she told him.

“Do we have any pictures?” asked Coulson.

“No. It’s supposed to be something that can change size,” said Hillary. “This description is from a news article from someone who saw the product a few weeks ago. Mitch emailed it to me. The YellowJacket is a suit. You wear it, and it can change your size to about the length of an insect--hence the name, I guess. You have enhanced physical abilities in the suit, and the suit also has firepower. Well?”

“Uh-huh,” said Coulson, smirking. “Uh-huh.” He nodded. “Ah-HA!”

“Ah-ha what?” asked Hillary.

“Have you ever heard of the Ant-Man?” asked Coulson, leaning against her cubicle wall.

“No, I haven’t. Do enlighten me.” Hillary swivled away from her computer.

“You should have covered this in the history part of your S.H.I.E.L.D. training. I mean, you do know who Hank Pym is, right?”

“Uh...I’m drawing a blank, Coulson. Could you refresh my memory?”

“Hank Pym is the former CEO and Founder of PymTech Industries,” said Coulson, “and he used to work for S.H.I.E.L.D..”

“What did he do?”

“He was the Ant-Man.”

“Ant-Man?”

“Hillary, Hillary, you’re killing me, you SHOULD know about this. Hank Pym did freelance superhero work for S.H.I.E.L.D. as the Ant-Man. He built a suit that could change size, but the smaller he got the more powerful he was. Imagine, you’re driving a Soviet Tank into Eastern Europe, trying to get someplace you’re not supposed to be. Then all of a sudden, you’re under attack, but you don’t know how or why. Your vehicle is falling apart from the inside. You’re getting punched and kicked by someone you can’t see. And then something rolls over your tank into a ditch. There is someone there--it is a person, but only a very tiny person.”

Coulson waved his hands excitedly as he talked, but kept his voice even as he always did.

“Uh-huh. That sounds like what the YellowJacket was supposed to do. But what does that have to do with the Ant-Man?”

“One of Hank Pym’s closest associates at his company was Darren Cross,” said Coulson. “Cross was clearly trying to replicate the Ant-Man technology as best he could and sell it. Pym never patented his device.”

“Who was Cross selling to?”

“Well, we can definitely say organizations with militaristic goals,” said Coulson.

“So not nice people.”

“Right. But people with lots of money.”

“Moolah. Yeah, that can be a factor.” Hillary returned to her computer screen. “There’s something else I wanted to show you. They said Cross had sold the YellowJacket the night that PymTech fell, and he was seen leaving the building in a helicopter. They found the remains of the helicopter but the guys who were in it haven’t been identified.”

“And Cross, was he in there?”

“No, it appears he wasn’t.” Hillary read, “‘Eyewitnesses say that the helicopter flew off across the bay but began to malfunction in mid-flight. As though it were being attacked.”

“By what?”

“No one was sure. Something may have been going on on the inside.” 

“Or maybe it was something they couldn’t see,” said Coulson. He gave a slow smile as Hillary looked at him.

“You don’t think the Ant-Man was behind this?”

“Yes, I do,” Coulson nodded. “Remember the break-in at the Avengers’ headquarters last week?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, clearly, it wasn’t someone that Sam Wilson had an easy time seeing while they fought,” said Coulson. 

“Yeah, but it wasn’t Hank Pym, though,” said Hillary. 

“No, Hank Pym is an old geezer. But this new guy, Scott or whatever he called himself, he clearly had some kind of connection to Hank Pym. Otherwise how would he have gotten the suit?”

“Exactly.” Then something connected in Hillary’s mind. She hit herself on the head. “Gosh darn it--Coulson, you don’t think it was Scott who took out PymTech, was it?”

“You think so?” 

“Yeah. If Hank Pym’s a little on the older side, and he doesn’t want to be Ant-Man anymore, he’d have gotten someone else to wear it. And then Darren Cross--Cross was doing something with the YellowJacket that he clearly didn’t like. Probably sold it to somebody with an agenda.”

“I imagine he was ticked that Cross had even built his own shrinking technology,” said Coulson.

“At the very least,” said Hillary. She turned back to her computer, but then looked back at Coulson. “Well, if it’s Hank Pym’s suit though, shouldn’t we call him up about it? I mean, he’d know about what was going on.”

“I doubt he’d answer. He resigned from S.H.I.E.L.D. twenty-five years ago and he refuses to have anything to do with us.”

“Why’d he quit?”

“Howard Stark attempted to replicate his formula,” said Coulson. “The Pym Particles: that’s the substance that makes him grow and shrink.”

“Ah,” said Hillary. “I see what his deal is.” 

 

Hillary went out by herself to lunch, and she had a lot to think about. The confusing news reports from San Francisco made more sense now, with what Coulson had told her. She was also expecting a call from Mitch any moment to say he had found something to clearly pin down what had happened.

When she returned to the office from lunch, the other agents had left on various assignments. She spent another hour racking her brains about the PymTech takedown. Coulson left the office suite for some reason. When he came back, he entered with someone familiar.

“Wanda!” Hillary said. She slid her chair away from the desk and walked over to greet Wanda Maximoff. “What are you doing here?” She shook hands with the Avenger known as the Witch. Wanda had straightened her thick hair and was wearing khaki slacks, a red blouse, and a jacket.

“We are here on a day trip,” said Wanda, “Well, we being the Captain, Wilson, and Natasha. How are you doing?”

“I’m doing good,” said Hillary. “I take it you heard about Wilson getting attacked.”

Wanda gave a quiet snort of laughter. “Yes, I did. It wasn’t funny, I think, but we can’t help laughing about it.”

“We can laugh all we want,” said Coulson.

“So have you heard any more news about this PymTech in San Francisco?” Wanda asked.

“We’ve been working on it night and day,” said Hillary, walking back over to her computer. 

“Where’s Sam and Steve and Natasha, though?” asked Coulson.

“Sam is visiting a friend,” said Wanda. “Steve he has...a meeting with a government official, and Natasha is heaven-knows-where. I think she is doing spy stuff.” 

“That’s an accurate way to describe it,” said Coulson. “But a government official, though? Who is Steve meeting with?”

“A representative , from New York. I do not know all the details. I think he is trying to talk to him about what the Avengers are doing.”

“Oh,” Coulson’s face fell. “Really? Well, that’s not surprising.”

“Did you hear about the protest last week?” asked Hillary. 

“I did, yes,” said Wanda. “Colonel Rhodes talked to us about it.” Wanda looked at the floor a little. 

Hillary thought Wanda seemed sad.

“Yeah, it’s kind of upsetting, to hear that some people don’t like you guys,” said Coulson. “Well, you can’t please everyone.” Wanda looked up at him. He gave her an encouraging smile. “So tell me, what have you guys been up to?” 

“We were fighting Hydra in Northern Canada,” said Wanda.

“A little cold up there, isn’t it?” said Coulson.

“No, is not too bad, this time of the year. But we had just gotten back yesterday when we heard about what happened at PymTech.”

“What was Sam doing?” asked Hillary.

“His suit is out of commission, so he stayed at headquarters.”

“I see. Did they send you to see what we’re up to?”

“More or less,” Wanda shrugged. 

“Well, they filled you in on the Ant-Man, right?” 

Wanda nodded. “Maria Hill, she gave us a presentation on that. Very interesting, no? But the Ant-Man is not Hank Pym. Is it this Scott fellow?”

“That’s what we figure,” said Hillary. “But we haven’t heard anything about him or who he could possibly be. Hank Pym keeps well out of the limelight these days.” 

“But is there something that Sam said about Scott that we should know?” asked Coulson.

“Is not much, I don’t think,” said Wanda. “He is...cocky. Reckless.”

“Big fan of you guys, from what I hear?”

“That is right,” said Wanda. “ ‘Hi, I’m Scott,’” he said.” 

“You know what, though, it’s nice that he is an Avengers fan,” said Hillary. “I’m pretty sure if he wasn’t he might not have been quite as nice to Wilson.” 

“Yes, but now Sam is saying that he wants to find this guy,” said Wanda. 

“Really?” said Coulson.

“What for?” asked Hillary.

“Well...Sam says that the new Ant-Man, this Scott or whoever he is, could be a new Avenger. Someone we could have on the team, or even call up if one of us was unable or unwilling to fight.”

“Really?” said Hillary.

“Not a bad idea,” said Coulson.

“It was an idle curiosity at first,” said Wanda. “But Sam, now he says he thinks this Scott had something to do with PymTech, and he wants to know what happened.”

“Well, that’s what we’re trying to figure out,” said Hillary. 

“Well, considering Wilson’s history with getting beaten up,” said Coulson, laughing, “I’m surprised he even wants to look up this guy.”

“Ha ha, yes,” Wanda nodded. “I think the rule is with Sam that if you want him to like you you should beat him in a fight first.”

“Or maybe beat him at running,” said Coulson.

Wanda raised an eyebrow. “Steve didn’t tell you--”

“‘On your left.’ Wilson told me, actually.” 

“ ‘On your left’?” asked Hillary. “What is this?”

“I’ll tell you later,” said Coulson. “But, anyway, Wanda, we definitely think that this Scott guy was part of all this.”

“Definitely?” Hillary rebutted. “We haven’t found a shred of proof that there was a guy named Scott involved.”

“Yeah, but I’ll tell you,” said Coulson. “The guy broke into the Stark warehouses by the new Avengers’ base. Hank Pym would have known where they were. The break-in was  
something to do with PymTech falling. Whoever this Scott guy is, he was helping Hank Pym in trying to stop Darren Cross.”

“That makes sense,” said Hillary.

Coulson proceeded to fill in Wanda on Darren Cross and the YellowJacket. 

Hillary commented, “Is it also a prerequisite for being an Avenger to take down a major organization?”

“What do you mean?” asked Coulson.

“Well, Tony Stark took out AIM a couple of years ago, Steve Rogers has taken down Hydra TWICE--he’s still working on it, actually, and he managed to destroy most of S.H.I.E.L.D..”

“He had help in that,” said Wanda.

“Yes, Natasha and Sam. And Rhodey helped Stark against AIM. So now, this Ant-Man guy has taken out PymTech. Am I missing anyone?”

“No, I think that is about it,” said Wanda.

“You make the Avengers sound like a bunch of anarchists,” said Coulson, “which, I know you’re not.” 

“Right,” said Wanda. 

Coulson’s phone gave a brief buzz. He unlocked it to read a text.

“It’s Mitch. He says he wants to do a skype call.”

“‘Bout time,” said Hillary, swiveling her chair and getting up.

“Where do we go?” asked Wanda.

“To my office. No one else is here so I don’t think we’ll need the big screen.”

The door to Coulson’s office was wide open. They followed him behind his desk to his computer. On the desktop they could see that a skype call was waiting. Coulson clicked on the icon and a live feed of Mitch’s face appeared.

“Top of the afternoon to ya,” said Mitch.

“And to you, too,” said Coulson, though I assume it is still morning where you are?”

“Right.”

“How’s San Francisco?” asked Hillary.

“Oh, it’s pretty good. Weather’s nice. Who’s your friend?”

“This is Wanda Maximoff,” said Coulson. “She’s one of the new Avengers.”

“Oh, right, the Witch girl from Sokovia,” said Mitch. “How ya doing?”

“Hello,” said Wanda, giving a little wave to the computer screen.

“Have you come any closer to figuring out what happened at PymTech?” asked Coulson.

“We’re still working on that,” said Mitch. “We may have found some surveillance cameras intact, so we should have those ready to look at here in a day or so. But the big thing is,  
we found out who was in that helicopter that crashed.”

“Oh really, who?” said Coulson.

“One of the guys was Mitchell Carson. Apparently he used to be a big wig at S.H.I.E.L.D., but he was also moonlighting for Hydra.”

“Hydra?” gasped Hillary.

“Yeah. The other two were just cronies of some sort, both ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. that went over to Hydra last April. But I think it’s safe to say that we know who the buyer for the  
YellowJacket was--and what they wanted to do with it.”

“Oooooooh!” said Coulson.

“‘Ooooh’? What is ‘oooh’?” asked Hillary.

“This crap just got real,” Coulson told her. 

“It is a good thing I am here, then,” said Wanda. “I will text Steve.” She went off to one side and got out her phone.

“So what about the house that got broken into in the suburbs?” asked Coulson. “Do we have any new leads on that?”

“There haven’t been, actually,” said Mitch. “We’re still working with the police to tell us who lives there and what happened. We do know, however, that the YellowJacket suit was not destroyed in the helicopter. There are reports that several people saw him in different parts of the same neighborhood as the house.”

“So Darren was there,” said Coulson. “And probably Ant-Man was there, too.”

“And is there any sign of what could have happened to Cross after he reached the house?” asked Hillary.

“No, there isn’t,” said Mitch. Wanda returned to the screen after sending her text. 

“You did the reading I gave you, right?” asked Coulson.

“Yep. I was...a little more prepared for what I saw when I got here, after reading that.”

“Great. And have you seen any sign or heard any reports of the Ant-Man?”

“No, I haven’t heard anything,” said Mitch. “But I guess if a guy can make himself tiny he can keep himself from being seen. Hank Pym is out of the hospital, by the way. He went  
straight home and he’s keeping himself out of the limelight.”

“And is there anyone interesting there with him?” asked Coulson. “That he’s avoiding sharing the limelight with?”

“Other than his daughter, no,” said Mitch.

“What does his daughter do?” asked Hillary.

“Hope Van Dyne worked for Cross,” said Mitch. “But I dunno if she had a hand in what happened. She was perfectly loyal to him--less so to her dad, it seemed.”

“But if there’s anybody that Pym would trust with his secrets, it’s her,” said Coulson. “But we’re looking for a third person, a guy called Scott. Is there anybody called that hovering around Pym?”

“No, not that I’ve seen,” said Mitch.

“Well, whatever you do, don’t go looking for him anywhere near Pym,” said Coulson sternly. “If Hank gets wind that S.H.I.E.L.D. is on to him, he’ll make us pay.”

“Keep my distance, got it, sir,” said Mitch.

“We think that Scott would be a person of some intelligence,” said Wanda. “A man that Pym would regard as an equal.”

“We will keep that in mind,” said Mitch.

“And how is the public in San Francisco dealing with these strange events?”

“Well, they’re doing okay,” said Mitch. “To be honest I don’t think they care anymore. There’s no talk about an ant-man or any superhero being held responsible. And it was  
nothing compared to what happened in Sokovia. One building getting blown up, one major company getting flattened--it’s not a huge deal.”

“The national press has picked it up,” said Hillary. “The big news outlets like to speculate that it was a superhero, but nobody really cares.”

“Unfortunately, the world has bigger issues,” said Coulson.

“Or fortunately, if you’re Hank Pym,” said Mitch.

Coulson sniffed. 

Coulson gave Mitch a few instructions on dealing with the press. Mitch signed off just as Wanda got a text. She read it and said,

“Steve says he is still in a meeting with a congressman, but I can call Sam and tell him to come over.”

“Good,” said Coulson. “I think Wilson will want to hear this.” 

About half an hour later, Sam Wilson arrived at Coulson’s office suite. He shook hands with Coulson as he entered. Coulson, Hillary, and Wanda filled in Sam on their  
conversation with Mitch and the progress of their investigation. 

“So there’s a chance that Hank Pym is working with this Scott guy?” said Sam, rubbing his mustache.

“I think it’s more than probable,” said Coulson. “The fact that he came to your base to raid the warehouses is a dead giveaway: Pym worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. in the past and would have known they were there. Him and Howard Stark weren’t exactly friends but they helped each other out.”

“But it’s still kind of hard to say what the guy might have done in Frisco, other than blow up a building,” said Sam.

“I don’t think he was directly involved in that, actually,” said Hillary. “But he definitely may have played a key role in the events that led up to it.”

“You’re generalizing, Agent Tanner,” said Sam. “I need to find out exactly who this guy is and what happened.”

Coulson nodded. “We’ll be sure to help you in that. But I think you might need to find this guy before he drops off the radar for good, you know?”

“If I can find anything to go off of,” Sam shrugged.

“You will, you’ve got plenty,” said Coulson. “Whatever he did, I think it more than qualified him to be an Avenger, wouldn’t you say?”

“I would think so,” said Hillary.

“You should find him, Wilson,” said Wanda. 

“Do it!” said Hillary.

There wasn’t really much more to say after that. They made small talk with Sam and Wanda about what the Avengers were up to these days. Then they got a text from Steve telling them to meet him at a nearby park. Everyone decided it was a good chance for an outing. Coulson left the other agents in charge. He, Hillary, and Sam rode with Wanda. 

On their drive, Wanda told Hillary that she had been to the Smithsonian museum earlier that day.

“There is the Captain America exhibit at the Smithsonian, have you seen it?” Wanda asked her.

“Well, yes, I have seen it,” said Hillary. “But I’ve heard they expanded it recently.”

“Yes, they did. Steve came and saw it a few weeks ago, and today he took me through it. Very nice exhibit.”

“Yeah, I’ve been to see it a couple times since they expanded it,” said Coulson. “I keep thinking they’re going to take it down, but they’re getting record numbers of visitors.” 

“I’ll have to go check it out,” said Hillary. 

They arrived at the park. It was late afternoon and pleasantly cool in the shade. Hillary could even see the tips of some of the leaves starting to change color.  
Steve Rogers was down the path that led away from the parking lot. He walked up slowly to meet them. He was wearing his jacket and baseball cap. He shook hands with Coulson and nodded to Hillary. They started to fill him in on Darren Cross and his connections to Hydra. Steve looked positively alarmed. 

“Well, you’ve gotta hand it to this Ant-Man guy, for foiling a Hydra plot on his own,” said Steve. “I can’t imagine I’d have fancied having to fight Hydra if they were all armed with miniature armored suits.”

“Dang right,” said Sam. “You could say he’s done us a huge favor.”

“Steve, are you okay?” asked Hillary. She thought he looked more forlorn than usual.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Steve said heavily.

“How did the talk with the congressman go?” asked Coulson.

“It went all right,” said Steve. “But it’s not like he had anything encouraging to say.”

“Who was it you met with?” asked Wanda.

“Representative Donald Clark, from New York City. Technically if I was living in New York right now he’d be my congressman.” They came up to a park bench. Coulson, Sam, and Hillary sat down, while Wanda stood behind them. Steve continued to pace. 

“Did he call you up?” asked Coulson.

“No, I wanted to talk to him. There’s been a lot of talk in the news lately that Congress wants to pass some new regulations to control superheroes.” 

“Control them?” Hillary gasped. “But, they can’t possibly hope to control superheroes, can they? I mean, it’s been proven in recent years that no one can. Their being unstoppable  
is kind of the point.”

“Representative Clark said that the public thinks something needs to be done.”

“And do you believe that, Steve?” asked Wanda. “I mean, that that is what the public is thinking?.”

Steve’s feet meandered in front of the bench. “I don’t know what to think. Clark told me that on at least two of the committees he’s in, they’ve talked about passing measures to control superhumans--experimentation, weapon development, international intervention, that sort of thing. No one can seem to agree on anything, and he doubts there’ll be some sort of an agreement anytime soon. But it’s in the air.”

“Perhaps so,” said Sam, nodding sagely.

“A couple of people recognized me when I was walking through the capitol,” said Steve. “A couple of them were impressed, but some of the older fellows...well, they kind of looked at me snidely. And I overheard a couple of people talking in the corridor while I was waiting for Clark. They’re coming up on another election cycle. It figures that anyone who wants to stay in office will want to do something.”

“That’s probably true,” said Hillary. 

“So what did you say to him?” asked Sam.

“I told him that I need him to speak to Congress on behalf of the Avengers. I need him to say that we’re using our powers and combined strength for good. I told him, we can’t control everything that happens. But when there’s a situation where people are in harm’s way, we make it our priority to keep innocent people protected. Outlawing superheroes won’t do anything to stop the supervillains--we need to be able to do our job. We fight to keep evil from taking away the freedom and prosperity of people in the world--that’s accurate, right?”

Sam and Wanda nodded. 

“I know it hasn’t been too big in the news on the east coast,” said Coulson, “but what’s been the reaction to the whole PymTech thing? In congress?”

“Well, it’s nothing compared to Sokovia, they’re saying,” said Steve. “No one’s really talking about it. One guy I heard mentioning it said called it just more ‘annoying superhero  
stuff’. Not that they’re actively saying there was superhero involvement.”

“I imagine people are a lot more than just annoyed at superheroes,” said Hillary.

“So what are we going to do about it, Steve?” asked Sam.

“Do about what?”

“PymTech? You want to figure out what’s going on, see if it’s something we should worry about?”

“I’d rather just let S.H.I.E.L.D. worry about it for right now,” said Steve. “But of course, if you find this Scott guy, Coulson, I’d just as soon you kept your hands off of him. And Sam, if Scott is of any importance to us at all, we’ll need him to trust us. That goes for you too, Wanda.” 

“Well, if you don’t mind me saying so,” said Sam, “I am going to go look for him--if you don’t need me to stick around for anything, Steve.”

“That’s just fine,” said Steve. “You’ll need something to do while your suit’s being repaired anyway.”

“Right,” Sam sniffed. “Just putting this out there, but does it seem to anybody like I’m the most vulnerable Avenger? Like if anything goes wrong with my suit I can’t do anything useful?”

“Oh, you’re not useless, Sam,” said Wanda, patting him on the shoulder. 

“You’re a capable man, Wilson, with or without the suit,” said Coulson.

“Thanks.” 

“So does anybody wanna go out for dinner?” asked Steve.

 

It was the following day, while scrolling on a San Francisco news website that Hillary came across the name Scott Lang. The name was part of a link to an article from a month ago about Scott Lang, a burglar who had hefted millions of dollars from the VistaCorp CEO, being released from prison after a three-year sentence. From the article’s description and a Google search, Lang sounded like a smart, capable person in spite of his criminal history. Hillary showed the information to Coulson but he told her to let it be: they would honor Steve’s request that S.H.I.E.L.D. keep its distance. Hillary sent the link to Mitch and told him to keep an eye out, but Mitch returned from San Francisco before Sam Wilson ever got there.

So S.H.I.E.L.D. never learned the full story of the Ant-Man. They never learned that it was really about Hank Pym passing on his legacy to a worthy successor, at least not at first. They never learned that it was really a story about mentors and proteges and fathers and daughters. They never learned that it was really about friendship and loyalty and the courage required to take second chances and change your stripes. And S.H.I.E.L.D. never noticed until it was too late that it was really about the small things that you would otherwise miss making the biggest difference--things like ants. 

What they did learn was that the Ant-Man had returned.


End file.
